The Iomega Zip Drive and the Click of Death

The Zip drive's legend says the click of death killed it, but Iomega's own filings point to something cheaper. Kim Edwards staked Iomega on a blue box, won a standing ovation, and was gone before its peak year. Chapters 0:00 The ovation 1:31 Too everything bad 4:10 The Comdex deadline 8:02 Zip Built In 12:08 Z-tracks 15:45 The last disk 15:57 The box in the closet Sources "Iomega Corporation", *International Directory of Company Histories*, vol. 21 (St. James Press, 1998), read at Encyclopedia.com and at its FundingUniverse copy (https://www.fundinguniverse.com/compa.... https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/po... (primary: standard history) "Exclusive Interview With Kim Edwards, Iomega CEO" (CeBIT, March 1996), *Computer Data Storage Newsletter*, reprinted by StorageNewsletter, June 17, 2021. https://www.storagenewsletter.com/202... (primary: interview) Steve Gibson, Gibson Research Corporation, the Click of Death pages, 1998 onward: "What IS the 'Click Of Death'?" (codfaq1.htm), "How Can I Cure Click Death?" (codfaq5.htm), "Zip & Jaz Drive Click Death Background" (codbackground.htm), "Click Death Research Diary" (coddiary.htm, April 4–18, 1998), "Is Click Death Contagious?" (codfaq4.htm), "Steve Gibson's Click Of Death Q&A" (codfaq8.htm), "Iomega System Knowledge" (codknowledge.htm), all under https://www.grc.com/tip/. https://www.grc.com/tip/codfaq1.htm (primary: first-hand account) Lenovo, "LenovoEMC Rebrands Iomega Products and Programs Worldwide", press release, June 11, 2013. https://news.lenovo.com/pressroom/pre... (primary: company document) Wikimedia Commons, Category:Zip drive and the file pages named in facts.md (licences as stated on each page), read September 30, 2026. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ca... (primary: archive item) Computer History Museum, catalog records 102729842 (Zip 750) and 102729830 (Jaz), and the Revolution exhibit's Zip disk (500003012). https://www.computerhistory.org/colle... (primary: archive item) michieldb.nl, "Iomega Zip Drive 100", Freesound, March 6, 2018. https://freesound.org/people/michield... (primary: recording) Iomega Corporation, press release "Iomega ships next generation Zip drives and disks", December 15, 1998, read at the Netvalley archive. https://www.netvalley.com/archives/97... (primary: company document) #Iomega #RetroComputing #ComputerHistory The Beige Years @thebeigeyears